are actually too many reasons to visit Mexico City—too much
to do, to see, to eat, to love. For starters, its cuisine is legendary,
and it keeps getting better. When The New York Times released
its annual “52 Places to Go” list in 2016, it was quite likely the
combination of ambitious new restaurants and sublime street
food that propelled Mexico City’s ranking to first place. And a
new global boom in mezcal—tequila’s smoky sister—makes the
city’s crop of moody mezcalerias ripe for discovery.

If it’s history you’re after, there are nearly seven centuries
of glory and intrigue literally piled on top of one other on this
magnificent platform of a city (it rises a mile and a half above
the sea, yet it’s continually sinking), from the establishment of
the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan atop Lake Texcoco to the doomed

Perhaps you fancy some of the best souvenir shopping onthe planet? The region’s exuberant folk arts—from tin, silverand textiles to colorful Huichol yarn and beadwork—arehighly collectible and functional. Speaking of the arts, MexicoCity boasts the world’s greatest number of museums (150),a vast assemblage that comprisesMesoamerican artifacts, decorative artsand world-class masterpieces. And itsstature looms large in 20th-century arthistory, when Frida Kahlo and DiegoRivera held court from La Casa Azul inCoyoacán, photographers like EdwardWeston and Tina Modotti honed theirmodernist eyes in the leafy streets of theCondesa neighborhood, and SalvadorDalí famously said, “There is no wayI’m going back to Mexico. I can’t standto be in a country that is more surrealistthan my paintings.”But perhaps the most thrilling sightsMexico City has to offer are all aroundyou, in its buildings. They announcethemselves the minute you set off bycab or Uber from the airport: intriguingideas lurking in seemingly insignificantstructures, try-anything shapes, trulytranscendent colors. The architecture isjust as multifaceted and outsized as anyother aspect of this massive metropolis,and a new generation of “starchitects”is ensuring it stays that way.

You’ll probably never get to the end
of your Mexico City bucket list—that’s
part of the city’s unrelenting allure. But
there are a few architectural marvels
that can visually orient you in the city’s
larger-than-life design lineage.